Inspired by the failures of WebMD as outlined here, because this was a problem WebMD characteristically failed to help me solve.
In the spirit of writing up one’s findings, and in the off-chance this is useful to someone, here is a research-based but totally uncited list of indications that a sudden musculoskeletal injury is a break rather than a sprain or the like:
If there’s a visible deformity, e.g. “something is not where it should be”. This is a big indication that you need to go to a doctor, whereas if you don’t have this you only maybe need medical attention.
(if there’s a lot of swelling and you can’t tell if there’s a deformity, if possible, you might try moving it and comparing it to the other side of your body in the same position—this might show if the injured side is clearly doing something that the healthy side isn’t.)
My impression is that generally, a minor injury can lead to swelling or make certain motions painful but won’t physically shift the underlying structure, whereas a break or dislocation—something that always needs medical attention—can do that.
(But it won’t always. Stay vigilant.)
More serious injuries do typically hurt way more than minor injuries.
It also generally takes more force to break bone, especially large bones—jogging probably won’t break your tibia, but a car crash might.
But sometimes they don’t or you’re still not sure. A musculoskeletal injury is more likely to be a break if:
The pain is worse at night
The area has decent flexibility but very little strength
(+ esp. if strength doesn’t improve over the next few days—sprains don’t bounce back instantly, but you’ll probably see some kind of improvement.)
Also, if you get the injury in sort of a distinctive fashion you suspect happens a lot—maybe playing sports, or falling—look up something like ‘injuries associated with XYZ’, because there are a lot of weirdly distinctive types of tissue injuries with well-characterized symptoms, and if you do have one of those, you might be able to save yourself a bunch of time early on.
This is not medical advice! The safest action is probably always to get your weird thing checked out. But this is, uh, the list of findings I wish I had found about a month and a half ago when I was debating over whether my situation actually merited going to urgent care or not. (It very much did… which I realized upon further research about two weeks after it happened.)
So, learn from my mistakes, friends. On the “upside”, my hand is much better now, and I’ve learned some interesting things about anatomy in the process?
indications that a sudden musculoskeletal injury is a break rather than a sprain
It’s worth noting that the two aren’t the only possibilities. Torn muscles and ligaments matter as well. Inflamation is another important possibilty concern.
Inspired by the failures of WebMD as outlined here, because this was a problem WebMD characteristically failed to help me solve.
In the spirit of writing up one’s findings, and in the off-chance this is useful to someone, here is a research-based but totally uncited list of indications that a sudden musculoskeletal injury is a break rather than a sprain or the like:
If there’s a visible deformity, e.g. “something is not where it should be”. This is a big indication that you need to go to a doctor, whereas if you don’t have this you only maybe need medical attention.
(if there’s a lot of swelling and you can’t tell if there’s a deformity, if possible, you might try moving it and comparing it to the other side of your body in the same position—this might show if the injured side is clearly doing something that the healthy side isn’t.)
My impression is that generally, a minor injury can lead to swelling or make certain motions painful but won’t physically shift the underlying structure, whereas a break or dislocation—something that always needs medical attention—can do that.
(But it won’t always. Stay vigilant.)
More serious injuries do typically hurt way more than minor injuries.
It also generally takes more force to break bone, especially large bones—jogging probably won’t break your tibia, but a car crash might.
But sometimes they don’t or you’re still not sure. A musculoskeletal injury is more likely to be a break if:
The pain is worse at night
The area has decent flexibility but very little strength
(+ esp. if strength doesn’t improve over the next few days—sprains don’t bounce back instantly, but you’ll probably see some kind of improvement.)
Also, if you get the injury in sort of a distinctive fashion you suspect happens a lot—maybe playing sports, or falling—look up something like ‘injuries associated with XYZ’, because there are a lot of weirdly distinctive types of tissue injuries with well-characterized symptoms, and if you do have one of those, you might be able to save yourself a bunch of time early on.
This is not medical advice! The safest action is probably always to get your weird thing checked out. But this is, uh, the list of findings I wish I had found about a month and a half ago when I was debating over whether my situation actually merited going to urgent care or not. (It very much did… which I realized upon further research about two weeks after it happened.)
So, learn from my mistakes, friends. On the “upside”, my hand is much better now, and I’ve learned some interesting things about anatomy in the process?
It’s worth noting that the two aren’t the only possibilities. Torn muscles and ligaments matter as well. Inflamation is another important possibilty concern.